Gun Control Is as Old as the Old West

[LiberalArkie]

It's October 26, 1881, in Tombstone, and Arizona is not yet a state. The O.K. Corral is quiet, and it's had an unremarkable existence for the two years it's been standing—although it's about to become famous.

Marshall Virgil Earp, having deputized his brothers Wyatt and Morgan and his pal Doc Holliday, is having a gun control problem. Long-running tensions between the lawmen and a faction of cowboys – represented this morning by Billy Claiborne, the Clanton brothers, and the McLaury brothers – will come to a head over Tombstone's gun law.

The laws of Tombstone at the time required visitors, upon entering town to disarm, either at a hotel or a lawman's office. (Residents of many famed cattle towns, such as Dodge City, Abilene, and Deadwood, had similar restrictions.) But these cowboys had no intention of doing so as they strolled around town with Colt revolvers and Winchester rifles in plain sight. Earlier on this fateful day, Virgil had disarmed one cowboy forcefully, while Wyatt confronted another and county sheriff Johnny Behan failed to persuade two more to turn in their firearms.

When the Earps and Holliday met the cowboys on Fremont Street in the early afternoon, Virgil once again called on them to disarm. Nobody knows who fired first. Ike Clanton and Billy Claiborne, who were unarmed, ran at the start of the fight and survived. Billy Clanton and the McLaury brothers, who stood and fought, were killed by the lawmen, all of whom walked away.




Snip



https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/gun-control-old-west-180968013/

[ProudMNDemocrat]

2. Kurt Russell embodied what Wyatt Earp looked like.

Val Kilmer's Doc Holliday was amazing too.."I'm your Huckleberry."

The opening scenes were filmed at Old Tuscon. I toured Tombstone in 1983 and it had been restored to its original look. Each day, there was a re-enactment of the shootout at the OK Corral.

[ExWhoDoesntCare]

10. I'd have to go with

The Searchers, High Noon, or Once Upon a Time in the West. Maybe throw in Stagecoach, Shane, and Unforgiven as honorable mentions.

Yeah, I've watched a bunch of Westerns in my day, thanks to my mother. She's rather obsessed with them.

[Pausan]

11. I Had NO Idea Henry Fonda Could Creep Me Out, And Play A Bad Guy, Until I Saw

Once Upon A Time In The West



Mr. Roberts, it ain't.

[CrispyQ]

3. We need a marketing department--stat!

“Having a firearm to protect yourself in the lawless wilderness from wild animals, hostile native tribes, and outlaws was a wise idea. But when you came into town, you had to either check your guns if you were a visitor or keep your guns at home if you were a resident.”

This info needs to go viral. I think most of us on DU are aware the wild west had stricter gun regs than most places today, but I doubt most of America knows that.

[Irish_Dem]

4. I keep saying the old Wild West had more gun regulation than we do now.

[SYFROYH]

5. There was zero Federal Gun Control in the 1700-1800s.

Guns, even machine guns, were available by mail without background checks into the 1900s.

[Irish_Dem]

6. That is not the topic I am discussing. I am describing how the local sheriffs regulated guns.

If you read about the Earp brothers, Doc Holiday, Bat Masterson, Bill Hickok, etc.
you will see what I am talking about.

They cared more about the safety of their towns than our leaders do today.

[SYFROYH]

8. Too bad the criminal cowboys didn't follow the law on that fatal day.

[fescuerescue]

7. I dunno about that. Today we have 20,000 gun laws

I seriously doubt that there was more in the middle 1800s.

I mean that's the general trend anyhow. That the body of laws tends to grow over time and very very rarely shrink,